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http://www.steelseal.com/ has anyone tried this stuff on one of these 2.5l phase I motors? according to their website, it is a chemical reaction that "cures the problem" and will NOT CLOG your cooling system. even says it works for backpressure bubbling in the coolant.?. just wondering if i should give it a shot b4 doing a motor swap or HG job. i know the other crap will clog the system, ive seen it first hand. but this looks... promising? if their claims are true

http://www.steelseal.com/ has anyone tried this stuff on one of these 2.5l phase I motors? according to their website, it is a chemical reaction that "cures the problem" and will NOT CLOG your cooling system. even says it works for backpressure bubbling in the coolant.?. just wondering if i should give it a shot b4 doing a motor swap or HG job. i know the other crap will clog the system, ive seen it first hand. but this looks... promising? if their claims are true

tons of people have tried this and tons of other stuff and none of them work. you will be wasting your money.

Yeah, it may stop the HG from leaking but what else will it stop up? The same principle applies for radiator stop leak. Fix the head gaskets right the first time and enjoy.

if you read the stuff on their website, its a clear liquid, no fibrous materials in there... says its a chemical reaction that seals the leak.. im gonna try it. for 50 bux, and "guaranteed to work or money back" its cheaper than doing the 2.2l swap....

if you read the stuff on their website, its a clear liquid, no fibrous materials in there... says its a chemical reaction that seals the leak.. im gonna try it. for 50 bux, and "guaranteed to work or money back" its cheaper than doing the 2.2l swap....

excuse my french, but you are an idiot. that stuff is designed to stop coolant from leaking into the intake. that is not your problem, you have exhaust gas leaking into the coolant. that stuff cannot do what you want it to because it never gets a chance to seal the leak. the exhaust leaking into the coolant keeps it away from the leak. if it were leaking in the other direction maybe it would work.

the white smoke from the exhaust pipe is the standard "head gasket" symptom of most cars, coolant leaking into the intake. but that is not your problem.

you are wasting your time and money. you have a better chance of saying a prayer.

Thank you John. I was going to bow out of this one gracefully and let Darwin handle the rest.

Seriously dude, don't half-rump roast your head gaskets. Take the $50 and go to your dealer and buy a set of head gaskets, $42.95 MSRP and $31.44 from subarugenuineparts.com. Then man up like the rest of us and either pay a reputable place to change them or do it yourself.

excuse my french, but you are an idiot. that stuff is designed to stop coolant from leaking into the intake. that is not your problem, you have exhaust gas leaking into the coolant. that stuff cannot do what you want it to because it never gets a chance to seal the leak. the exhaust leaking into the coolant keeps it away from the leak. if it were leaking in the other direction maybe it would work.

the white smoke from the exhaust pipe is the standard "head gasket" symptom of most cars, coolant leaking into the intake. but that is not your problem.

you are wasting your time and money. you have a better chance of saying a prayer.

Not that I think this product will work, but it does leak in the other direction doesn't it? Isn't coolant sucked in into the chamber during the induction stroke?

Not that I think this product will work, but it does leak in the other direction doesn't it? Isn't coolant sucked in into the chamber during the induction stroke?

i'm not an expert and i may have overstated my knowledge a bit, but it is my understanding that in most cases a coolant system pressure test will not ''discover'' bad head gaskets. this leads me to believe that , at least in the early stages, the leaking only occurs in high compression and combustion conditions. i do not believe that there is enough suction during the intake to create these conditions but i really do not know how much suction / vacuum is actually created.

... this leads me to believe that , at least in the early stages, the leaking only occurs in high compression and combustion conditions. i do not believe that there is enough suction during the intake to create these conditions but i really do not know how much suction / vacuum is actually created.

but then again, i'm not an expert.

+1

I'm no an expert either but the main problem is not coolant "loss" into the cylinders, but high pressure compression gases forcing the coolant in the system out through the radiator cap causing "air" pockets. That's why there are bubbles and oil in the overflow and also why a hydrocarbon test comes back positive.

It's also, in most cases reported on the board here, causes the overheating only when under heavy use like higher constant revs on a highway or climbing hills, not at idle or driving around town.

excuse my french, but you are an idiot. that stuff is designed to stop coolant from leaking into the intake. that is not your problem, you have exhaust gas leaking into the coolant. that stuff cannot do what you want it to because it never gets a chance to seal the leak. the exhaust leaking into the coolant keeps it away from the leak. if it were leaking in the other direction maybe it would work.

the white smoke from the exhaust pipe is the standard "head gasket" symptom of most cars, coolant leaking into the intake. but that is not your problem.

you are wasting your time and money. you have a better chance of saying a prayer.

you must be french, because your the idiot... if you actually READ their website, it says it will also stop gas bubbling in the coolant (click on the FAQ link on their home page).. plus if it doesnt work, then who cares, they say they will refund your money.. for 50 bux, ill try it, if it doesnt work OFW, if it does, great i just saved myself anywhere from 1200-2000 on a HG job. besides, if it doesnt work, i will drop a 2.2l in the car and be done with this POS 2.5l... trust me im skeptical about it too.. ive seen what other fibrous stop leaks have done to engine coolant ports.. it clogs them solid causing more problems.. i bought this car as a winter car, and basically got duped by the seller because it ran fine on test drive, and 4-5 times driving after.. so if i can get away with this stuff lasting thru the winter then im happy.. if it does work thou, how nice would it be for EVERYONE on here that has this same problem but in this economy cant afford to have the job done.

you must be french, because your the idiot... if you actually READ their website, it says it will also stop gas bubbling in the coolant (click on the FAQ link on their home page).. plus if it doesnt work, then who cares, they say they will refund your money.. for 50 bux, ill try it, if it doesnt work OFW, if it does, great i just saved myself anywhere from 1200-2000 on a HG job. besides, if it doesnt work, i will drop a 2.2l in the car and be done with this POS 2.5l... trust me im skeptical about it too.. ive seen what other fibrous stop leaks have done to engine coolant ports.. it clogs them solid causing more problems.. i bought this car as a winter car, and basically got duped by the seller because it ran fine on test drive, and 4-5 times driving after.. so if i can get away with this stuff lasting thru the winter then im happy.. if it does work thou, how nice would it be for EVERYONE on here that has this same problem but in this economy cant afford to have the job done.

sorry about the idiot comment. i was wrong.

this stuff will work. and you will not have any problem getting your 50$ back if it doesn't.

the only down side is the EJ25 isn't worth much (if you're honest) after this treatment and prolonged driving. it's worth $200-$300 right now as someone would install gaskets and run it rather than the $1,000+ for a junk yard EJ25. since i've bought perfectly running low mileage EJ18's and EJ22's for those amounts (even less), the economics work out pretty good. but finding cheap EJ's might be hard as of late, i know Dave (and myself) pretty much bought all of them last year around western PA. maybe they have more now that he's slowed down?!?

this stuff will work. and you will not have any problem getting your 50$ back if it doesn't.

enjoy your car.

LOVE THE SARCASM... dude, im trying to be optimistic here.. trust me, im NOT getting my hopes up, but you never know unless you try. as far as getting your money back from them, it says send them a quote from a mechanic saying your car has a bad HG dated after your purchase of the solvent, and they will refund your money. so worst case, im out 10 bux for shipping, and really no time at all since you just put it in and let the thing run for an hour in your driveway.. anyways, whatever... ill give it a shot, and post my results here. like i said, it never hurts to try.

I would like themoneypit to keep us informed on his adventure. If a 2.5 with a bad headgasket can be kept running for a few months while someone looks for a replacement 2.2 or waits for better weather this could be a lifesaver in the short-run, assuming it doesn't cause any collateral issues with the heater core or radiator.

I would like themoneypit to keep us informed on his adventure. If a 2.5 with a bad headgasket can be kept running for a few months while someone looks for a replacement 2.2 or waits for better weather this could be a lifesaver in the short-run, assuming it doesn't cause any collateral issues with the heater core or radiator.

ill be sure and post my results here whether good or bad... as of now, i "gutted" the t-stat (cut the two metal sides and removed spring, and guts of t-stat so all was left was a round circle with a hole in the center) ive put about 150 miles on the car thus far with no overheating or coolant being forced out of the overflow bottle. you can still see bubbles in the overflow, but the system doesnt build enough pressure to force the coolant out, just the gasses. so that in itself is a temp fix for one of these so your not out of a car right away, or cant afford the fix. i doubt ill have enough heat once winter sets in, but its mid 60's today here in CT, so i cant really test that yet.

i was closing un-needed windows and found this as part of the instruction for steel seal. this was the 3rd step , the first 2 were actual instructions on the installation procedure of the product. the lev-r-vent cap sounds like a good idea to help save coolant in overheating cars.

quote
If you notice bubbling in your radiator, we recommend using a Stant Lev-R-Vent radiator cap with the lever in the “up” position to relieve the pressure while the vehicle is running. After you turn the engine off you can place the lever in the “down” position. These caps can be purchased at many auto parts stores.

The only HG that I have heard works (subie cab owners and many EJ25 owners) are the ones made specially for AAA theshop subaru service in Anchorage, Alaska. All the subie taxi cabs in Alaska us them.
Many of them with over 300K miles with no problems on them. And their
are a LOT of subie cabs up here. I talked to a subie cab owner with 475K
0n his 98 EJ25 with these gaskets. He said his whole fleet of cab have them
and haven't had a HG problem on any of them.

Okay: First of all, let's not get sarcastic and start any animosity amongst board members. We are all supposed to be helping each other out.

I have a friend that used this stuff and it was a PIA to get all of the steps done. For him it didnt work and when he tried to get his money back, the company just thumbed their nose at him. If you do decide to use it, I would just chalk up the 60.00 (10 for shipping) and expect never to see that money again.

I think you are wrong in dumping this motor. Once you have put in the OEM gaskets, you will be driving on new design and virtually no failures. In my experience, the refailures are due to people trying to cut costs and using cheaper gaskets or using graphite. If you use the Subaru MLS gasket, you will not have a refailure. If you can't get the gaskets, just let me know and I can get them for you for around 30-32 each. you can do the entire job in one weekend. If it were me, I'd keep the car stock and fix the motor, but ultimately this is your call.

Okay: First of all, let's not get sarcastic and start any animosity amongst board members. We are all supposed to be helping each other out.

I have a friend that used this stuff and it was a PIA to get all of the steps done. For him it didnt work and when he tried to get his money back, the company just thumbed their nose at him. If you do decide to use it, I would just chalk up the 60.00 (10 for shipping) and expect never to see that money again.

I think you are wrong in dumping this motor. Once you have put in the OEM gaskets, you will be driving on new design and virtually no failures. In my experience, the refailures are due to people trying to cut costs and using cheaper gaskets or using graphite. If you use the Subaru MLS gasket, you will not have a refailure. If you can't get the gaskets, just let me know and I can get them for you for around 30-32 each. you can do the entire job in one weekend. If it were me, I'd keep the car stock and fix the motor, but ultimately this is your call.

Good Luck

trust me, im not getting my hopes up... but for your friend there, the steps were a piece of cake to follow, dump in upper hose, let run for one hour, let cool completely.. the stuff came in this morning, i did buy the ventable radiator cap for 6 bux at advance auto, and put in a new subaru t-stat as well for 13 bux. i put the stuff in, ran it for an hour with the rad cap vent open as it says, shut the car off, closed the vent and it is currently cooling down in the driveway. i will post here after "complete cool down, then drive car as normal" and see what happens with it if anything.

their website says to send a quote from a mechanic saying your car needs headgaskets and they will refund your money, or offer you another bottle free of charge if you want to try a second application. did he send them in a quote? or just call them and tell them it didnt work? just curious...

not really much to worry about it's only a few dollars anyway. most mechanics charge for their time...so $40 for him to document a bad gasket (since many places charge a minimum 1 hour) doesn't work for most people. it wouldn't even be worth my time and hassle driving around, waiting, diagnosing, mailing, calling, faxing.

If a company refuses to honor their guarantee on their product, gasket sealers, etc., document the financial transaction, put in writing your experience, and forward it to your state's attorney general or consumers affairs department, with all relevant contact information, for the company and for you, and where you bought the product.

Then submit information to the company that fails to honor the guarantee, letting them know you are going forward with law enforcement on this issue and as other complaints get collated by the state and or federal departments, a class action lawsuit may follow.

Some people say that fraud under $5000 is too expensive to follow through on in the US. I don't believe this is true. It would be good to hear of those who have been successful in getting justice from unethical businesses.

<< the stuff came in this morning, i did buy the ventable radiator cap for 6 bux at advance auto, and put in a new subaru t-stat as well for 13 bux. i put the stuff in, ran it for an hour with the rad cap vent open as it says, shut the car off, closed the vent and it is currently cooling down in the driveway. >>

how are you bleeding the system of air when you replaced the thermostat?